Trivial fact on Historical Baldness

Anything that we have for our hair maintenance and care these days has been carefully researched and history has a big contribution in this regard. During the early years, baldness is considered inappropriate or something that needs to be hidden from the public eyes. Bald people at times during the early century are either ridiculed or mocked upon. Baldness is a growing concern actually to most people during those years.

In fact, anthropologists believe that even cavemen from the Neolithic Age were concerned about the importance of keeping hair on their heads trimmed, based on the short cropped hair on a frozen caveman whose body was discovered along the Austrian-Italian border. This only implies that even in pre-historic times, hair care was a big consideration of life that humans can’t live without.

The Egyptians too had a special concern about hair loss, which is why they had a special ritual dedicated to their sun god that was combined with consumption of a special solution made up of alabaster, honey, red lead, iron and onions and some fats from geese, serpents, ibex, crocodiles, hippos, and lions as scalp rub solutions. The King of Upper and Lower Egypt may also have thought that a hair re-growth solution he was using at the time (made up of an ass' hoof, refuse of dates, and dog toes) was going to work but unfortunately it was proven to be useless. Further, even during the early Christians’ time, baldness issue was a concern. For one, a prophet named Elisha was a bald man and was ridiculed by some youths for being bald.

Why the fuss over baldness in the first place? As researches indicate, hair growth is related to humans’ capability to secrete hormones. As such, the male hormone called testosterone is being processed by the body into DHT (dyhydrotestosterone) which is recognized as the culprit behind human baldness. Women who have significant amounts of testosterone in their bodies may also develop DHT later on so they are also at risk for hair loss.

In order to hide the baldness, a commonly-used technique known as the Comb-Over technique where the remaining hair is allowed to grow long then "combed over" the bald spot, was even used by the late great Julius Caesar. And no, not even during his time was this known to be an effective way to hide a bald spot – but then, how many people would tell that to Caesar's face? That may explain why he also used to sport a laurel wreath on his head, which may have been more effective than the Comb-Over and definitely more stylish.

These days, the most effective way to treat progressive baldness could be the hair transplant technique was pioneered in 1939 by Dr. Okuda (a dermatologist from Japan.) Though World War II may have prevented Dr. Okuda's discovery from being immediately disseminated to the global medical community, eventually his findings did help in making hair transplants a new field of study in treating baldness in people. Other medical professionals and researchers have followed in Dr. Okuda's footsteps which is why now hair transplants have become so realistic-looking that it is nearly impossible to tell them apart from real hair growth.